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Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved

This photo was taken back in July. Dali (DD) and I had gone early to Mission San Juan Batista to photograph the interior of the Mission. We were meeting a couple of friends there later in the evening to shoot Star Trails.
After finishing the Mission we decided to head up to Fremont Peak for the sunset. We got up to the top parking lot then hiked up to the top and spent some time taking photographs of the valley. The sunset didn’t look promising, and the fog was rolling in. We decided to head down for some dinner then meet our friends. Driving down the mountain Dali said “Oh look, there’s color!” I quickly found a place to pull over then we raced around getting our gear out, and tripods up, and the shot taken before the sun went down. Look how close I came to missing it!

I forgot all about this shot until recently. Dali posted his on Facebook a couple of weeks ago which reminded me I hadn’t processed mine either. It required a double process. I made 2 duplicates of the original file then processed one for the sky, and one for the foreground. The sky layer really didn’t need anything, but the foreground layer I thought needed a bit of dodging to open it up to look more the way I saw it. My camera saw it as a silhouette. I was able to see more detail. Like this.
Then I stacked the two layers, added a mask and painted in my sky.
I’m sure there is a much easier way to do it and this was the long way around. I am just happy I knew how to do this much in Photoshop. 🙂

Nikon D90| Nikkor 17-35mm @ 32mm| f11| 1/15 sec| ISO 400| Aperture Priority| On a Tripod

This was my last day here visiting the park this trip. Fortunately it was sunny. Strange how when it was snowing and raining it was warmer. Even with the sun out it was colder than the two previous days.
There isn’t much to say about this shot really. It’s your classic tourist shot. I think everyone who comes to the park takes this shot. I’ve done it each time I’ve come.
After this shot I decided to cross the bridge and road and hunt for a less popular shot. I found one of the bridge, but want to explore another area the next time I’m in the park. With luck that will be in Feb.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 17-35@ 17mm| f10| 1/13sec| ISO 200| Manual Mode| On a Tripod

Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

I photographed Stoneman Bridge from the snowy bank of the Merced River. I snowshoed down here. It was the first time in my life I ever tried snowshoeing. I didn’t fall getting down here all the way from Curry Village.
I did fall on my face going down the other side of this bridge though. Thankfully both I and my camera landed in soft snow. 🙂 As you see it was still snowing by mid morning. Much to my surprise only my hands and feet were cold. The rest of me was comfortable. It wasn’t as cold as it looks which was another surprise to me.
My new boots were a huge disappointment. I think they were faulty. The toe box in both boots was freezing! I’ve since returned those boots and have purchased a different brand. I hope they work out better.

For the History buffs:
Stoneman Bridge is named in honor of Union Calvary General George Stoneman. After the war he moved to California and in 1882 was elected the 15th Governor of California.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 17-35mm @ 17mm| f7.1| 1/100sec| ISO 400| Manual Mode| On a Tripod

Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

On our second day in Yosemite Valley it snowed most the day. It was a Sunday, and the service was going to start while we were there. The bell rung while we there to announce the service I think, but I didn’t hear any singing. I said later we should have gone in.
I haven’t been inside this chapel since the mid 1980’s. I attended my girlfriends wedding here. I remember the inside of the chapel being very simple, elegant, very comfortable, and welcoming.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 17-35mm @ 17mm| f5.0| 1/320 sec| ISO 400| Manual Mode| On a Tripod

Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

I really liked the patterns and texture all the rocks and snow made in the river and meadow here. They reminded me of puzzle bits and pieces.
Half Dome spent all afternoon hiding behind cloud cover. This was all I saw of it on Jan. 1, 2011.
I took this photo in color, but it was so gray and rainy that the photo came out looking like a Black and White. It wasn’t snowing at the time I took this photo, but the snow was melting in the tree behind me and the wind was blowing it everywhere. You see some of that in this scene.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 17-35@ 19mm| f7.1| 1/25second| ISO 200| Manual| On a Tripod

Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

Lake Tahoe in the early evening. This was a short photo op on the way to Emerald Bay to take sunset shots after a day of chasing Fall Color in Hope Valley.

I thought I’d give the Orton Effect a go on this photograph to see how it worked. I’m happy with this one too.
I especially like the light on the foreground logs. There is a trail on the other side of this fallen tree I wanted to go explore, but didn’t have time to.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 17-35mm @ 19mm| f3.5| 1/500sec| ISO 200| Manual Mode| Singh-Ray 3 stop Grad ND filter| On a Tripod